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Monday, 27 March 2017

The price of an average house in Dublin rose by 3.9% in the first quarter of this year as the average three-bed semi in the capital breached the €400,000 barrier.
The average three-bed semi-detached in Dublin city now costs €404,167, a rise of €15,000 (3.9%) in the last three months and an increase of 12.8% over the past year, the Q1 REA Average House Price Index has found.
And with an increase in newly-financed buyers coming to the market, prices rose by 5.6% in both north and south county Dublin in the first three months of the year.
The easing of the Central Bank restriction on lending for first-time buyers has had an immediate effect on the market with a large rise in numbers at viewings and potential buyers with mortgage financing.
The REA Average House Price Survey concentrates on the actual sale price of Ireland's typical stock home, the three-bed semi, giving an up-to-date picture of the property market in towns and cities countrywide for the first three months of the year.
The average semi-detached house nationally now costs €209,944, the Q1 REA Average House Price Survey has found – a rise of 3.5% on the Q4 2016 figure of €202,926.
Overall, the average house price across the country has risen by 10.9% over the past 12 months – a marked increase on the 7.7% rise registered to the end of December 2016.
The biggest percentage increases over the past year came in the country’s smaller rural towns situated outside of Dublin, the commuter belt and the major cities.
Prices here rose by an average of 12.9% over the year, with a three-bed semi now costing €136,194 – an increase of 3% in the past three months.
The commuter counties of Louth, Meath, Kildare, Wicklow, Carlow and Laois rebounded after a relatively static end to 2016 to rise by 2.9% in the past three months, with the average house appreciating by over €6,000 in the quarter.
Ireland’s major cities outside the capital experienced a 2.3% rise in the first quarter and 7.7% on the year, with the average semi now costing €305,000 in Cork (+3.4%), €132,000 in Galway (+2.1%) and €178,000 in Limerick (+0.6%).
“There has been a recovery in bank lending, which has been reflected in the purchasing end, but the accelerated figures in the Dublin market particularly, show that we are moving into a vendors’ marketplace,” said REA spokesperson Healy Hynes.
“Many private vendors are now emerging from negative equity and can afford to make the move from the starter to the second home.
“However, we need to look at these figures in relation to the market where stock levels are at their lowest nationwide since January 2007.
“Although mortgage drawdowns at 29,498, were up 12% in Q4 2016, they were actually less than they were in 1980 when the economy was in deep recession.
“At a current average price of €136,194, and an annual compound rise of 12.9%, it will be 2021 at the earliest before it becomes economic to build outside the cities.”
“In the capital, our agents report that the market is incredibly active, with limited supply putting immense upward pressure on prices.
“In Clonskeagh, REA Ed Dempsey have confirmed that the average three bed semi has gone from €445,000 last March to €535,000 this year, a rise of 20.2% in a year, and 7% in the quarter.”
The largest growth in the country in the first three months was in Kilkenny city, where average prices jumped by 15.8% from €190,000 to €220,000.
“There is a desperately poor supply on the market, which means that any property is selling quickly and strongly, with an average selling time of three weeks,” said local agent Michael Boyd of REA Boyd.
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